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Episode 74 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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Things are gooey and God is in the goo. And thank God that God is in the goo."
-Sister Susan Francois
IN THIS EPISODE
In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh FSPA, enjoys a conversation with Sister Susan Francois CSJP. Sister Susan shares about her vocation story and how she journeyed from being an ex-Catholic working as an elections officer to a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. "I always knew I wanted to make the world a different, a better place," Sister Susan says. "And I always thought that government would be my path to do that. And I tried that, and it wasn't enough." Sister Susan shares insights on the meaning of common good and the power of Catholic social teaching, changes occurring in religious life, and the role of chaos in collective transformation. As a leader, Sister Susan has become a bit of an expert of praying in the chaos. "The universe came out of chaos. God created us out of chaos. It's a creative moment. That's where God is. So I'm really encouraging myself and others to embrace the chaos and to find our way to take care of ourselves and care for each other, but also to not be afraid of [chaos] and to try things," Sister Susan exerts.
Sister Susan Francois
ABOUT THE GUEST
Sister Susan Francois CSJP is the Assistant Congregation Leader and Congregation Treasurer for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. She has served in Congregation Leadership since 2015. Sister Susan is an author, writing for Global Sisters Report and other publications on religious life and social justice. She previously ministered as a social justice educator and advocate at the lntercommunity Peace and Justice Center in Seattle, Washington. Sister Susan presently serves on the Boards of All Africa Sister to Sister Conference, Investor Advocates for Social Justice, Holy Name Medical Center, and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Charitable Incorporated Organisation in the United Kingdom.
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
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A Special Episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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Photo by Ales Maze on Unsplash
IN THIS EPISODE
For this special time of year, we present to you this Easter contemplation episode of Messy Jesus Business Podcast. Sister Julia shares some thoughts about the joy of the resurrection and reads from John 20:1-9. You can find the translation she uses here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20
We hope this short meditation can help connect you with the wonders of Easter and the Resurrection!
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
Original music and sound design by Colin Wambsgans.
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Episode 73 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with guest host, Rev. Adam Bucko
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For Love of the Broken Body book cover
IN THIS EPISODE
In the latest episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, guest host Rev. Adam Bucko interviews Sister Julia Walsh FSPA about her new spiritual memoir, For Love of the Broken Body. Their conversation explores the story of the accident that shaped Sister Julia's experience as a novice with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. She speaks about how she felt called to share her powerful story. "In alignment with my vow of poverty, I felt like I couldn't keep this story to myself," Sister Julia admits. Rev. Adam and Sister Julia also explore how brokenness is a normal and sacred part of being human and how all people can give who they are for the sake of the common good. They explore vocational discernment, vulnerability, Sister Julia's experience in finding a publisher for the book, the messiness of maturing in faith, trusting in God, and sharing life in community.
Download a free reflection guide to accompany Sister Julia's memoir, For Love of the Broken Body, here.
ABOUT THE GUEST HOST
Father Adam Bucko has been a committed voice in the movement for the renewal of Christian Contemplative Spirituality and the growing New Monastic movement. He has taught engaged contemplative spirituality in Europe and the United States, and authored Let Your Heartbreak be Your Guide: Lessons in Engaged Contemplation, and co-authored Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation and The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living. Committed to an integration of contemplation and just practice, he cofounded an award-winning non-profit, the Reciprocity Foundation, where he spent 15 years working with homeless youth living on the streets of New York City, providing spiritual care, developing programs to end youth homelessness, and articulating a vision for spiritual mentoring in a post-religious world. He currently serves as a director of The Center for Spiritual Imagination at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York, and is a member of “The Community of the Incarnation,” a ‘new monastic’ community dedicated to democratizing the gifts of monastic spirituality and teaching contemplative spirituality, in the context of hearing and responding to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. Adam leads The Buddhist-Christian Community for Meditation and Action along with his wife, Kaira Jewel Lingo, a Buddhist teacher and former nun in the community of Thich Nhat Hanh.
ABOUT Sr. JULIA WALSH FSPA
Sister Julia Walsh FSPA
Sister Julia Walsh is a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration and part of hercongregation’s formation team, serving women who are discerning their vocation. Along with another Franciscan Sister, she co-founded The Fireplace, an intentional community and house of hospitality on Chicago’s southside that offers spiritual support to seekers, artists, and activists. She has an MA in Pastoral Studies from Catholic Theological Union and is a spiritual director and secondary teacher. As a creative writer, educator, and retreat presenter she is passionate about exploring the intersection of creativity, spirituality, activism, and community life. A regularly published spiritual writer, Sister Julia’s work can be found in publications such as America, Living Faith Catholic Devotional, and Living City. She hosts the Messy Jesus Business blog and podcast and is the author of FOR LOVE OF THE BROKEN BODY (Monkfish, March 2024).
Rev. Adam Bucko with Sr. Julia Walsh FSPA
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
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A Special Episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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Photo by Ryan Cheng on Unsplash
IN THIS EPISODE
During this sacred season of Lent, we invite you to pause and contemplate God's loving presence in the midst of the mess. As we offer our breath and our bodies to God, as we pray, fast and give alms — how might our Lenten practices allow others to be fed?
The Scripture in the mediation is Isaiah 58:5-12.
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
Original music and sound design by Colin Wambsgans.
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Episode 72 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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“We have to understand the environment and appreciate it, both aesthetically and scientifically --as well as historically. And so it means taking all of the modalities of exploration and understanding that God has given us and bringing those together.” -Molly Burhans
IN THIS EPISODE
This episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast is the second of two featuring Sister Julia Walsh’s conversation with Catholic cartographer Molly Burhans.
In this episode, Burhans and Sister Julia explore the mess of restorative land practices and using data for good. Burhans shares how her team was the first to make a global projection map of Catholic Church jurisdictions since 1801. Sister Julia asks Burhans to comment on what stewardship means to her and what Catholics are meant to be doing in movement spaces related to land justice. They also discuss the complexities of Catholic identity and devotion in a messy Church whose structural sins have caused injustice and abuse. Regarding persisting in faith, Burhans encourages, "we have to be brave. And if we are the kingdom of God, we can build it. And I'll map it, if you need any help."
ABOUT THE GUEST
Molly Burhans is an award-winning Catholic environmentalist, cartographer and social entrepreneur. She is the founder of GoodLands, an organization whose mission is to mobilize the Catholic Church to use its landholdings for environmental and humanitarian good. Burhans was the chief cartographer for the first unified global map of the Church, which premiered at the Vatican in 2016. She was named one of Encyclopedia Britannica's 2022 “20 Under 40,” is a winner of the Sierra Club’s EarthCare Award, a U.N. Young Champion of the Earth, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and an Ashoka Fellow. Molly is a visiting professor at Canisius College and adjunct professor of urban design at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In 2021 The New Yorker published a profile of her entitled How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change.
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
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Episode 71 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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“There's always a freedom, though, that I feel... even if I was totally wrong about everything, I have full faith that Christ and God still love me and are still there.” -Molly Burhans
IN THIS EPISODE
This episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast is the first of two featuring Sister Julia Walsh’s conversation with Molly Burhans.
In this episode Burhans, a cartographer, shares the intertwined stories of how she came to find her Catholic faith in her twenties while developing a love for maps and the power they hold for social and environmental change.
Together Burhans and Sister Julia explore how Burhans' appreciation for life and living brought her to environmentalism through a passion for regenerative land usage. Her love for the planet and devotion to the Catholic Church led her to look for something that wasn’t yet there — institutions devoted to conservation within the global Catholic Church. She then tells the incredible story of how all these interests — her faith, cartography and environmentalism — brought her into what was almost a cold-call to the Vatican in an attempt to inspire the usage of the Church’s landholdings for good.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Molly Burhans is an award-winning Catholic environmentalist, cartographer and social entrepreneur. She is the founder of GoodLands, an organization whose mission is to mobilize the Catholic Church to use its landholdings for environmental and humanitarian good. Burhans was the chief cartographer for the first unified global map of the Church, which premiered at the Vatican in 2016. She was named one of Encyclopedia Britannica's 2022 “20 Under 40,” is a winner of the Sierra Club’s EarthCare Award, a U.N. Young Champion of the Earth, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and an Ashoka Fellow. Molly is a visiting professor at Canisius College and adjunct professor of urban design at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In 2021 The New Yorker published a profile of her entitled How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change.
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
Email us at [email protected]
BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness
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Revisiting Episode 17 from December 3, 2020.
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Author Shane Claiborne
IN THIS EPISODE
In this episode of Messy Jesus Business, originally released as episode 17 from Dec. 3, 2020, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Shane Claiborne, a best-selling author, speaker and activist. They discuss what it means to be a peacemaker while living in one of the world’s most heavily armed countries and a monumental gun death toll. “Violence is one of those demons that goes back to our very foundations in our country,” Claiborne says.
Claiborne says the U.S. has 5% of the world’s population, but almost half of the world’s guns, and poses the question, “What would Jesus, the Prince of Peace, be saying right now?”
Sister Julia and Shane Claiborne also discuss the importance of remaining joyful and hopeful, even when surrounded by the pain of the world.
“I like how Karl Barth said we need to read the bible in one hand, but we need to hold the newspaper in the other… so that our faith doesn’t just become a ticket into heaven and a license to ignore the world we live in, but our faith should actually fuel us to want to change the world,” Claiborne says.
In addition, they discuss the importance of community and the messiness that comes from the Christian veneer of perfection.
“A lot of the times we sort of act like the church is a country club for saints, rather than a hospital for sinners.” Claiborne says honesty can help manage the resulting mess. He remembers walking into a church where greeters wore shirts that said, “No perfect people allowed.”
“If that was greeting every person coming into every church, it would give you a sense of reality, like this is a home for you even if you don’t have it all together… our wounds are not our liabilities, they are our credentials.”
He adds, “Honesty can show this Gospel is not for the Righteous, but for the sinner.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Learn more about the Red Letter Christians movement, headed by Shane Claiborne, by exploring their website.
To read more about how Shane Claiborne’s work influenced Sister Julia, see the 2015 Messy Jesus Business blog post: A Visit to The Simple Way.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist and best-selling author. He worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, and founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia. He leads Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living “as if Jesus meant the things he said.” Claiborne is a champion for grace which has led him to jail advocating for the homeless, and to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to stand against war. Now grace fuels his passion to end the death penalty and help stop gun violence.
Claiborne’s books include, “Jesus for President,” “Red Letter Revolution,” “Common Prayer,” “Follow Me to Freedom,” “Jesus, Bombs and Ice Cream,” “Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers,” “Executing Grace,” his classic: “The Irresistible Revolution,” and his newest book: “Beating Guns”. He has been featured in a number of films including, “Another World Is Possible” and “Ordinary Radicals.” His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Shane speaks more than a hundred times a year, both nationally and internationally. His work has appeared in Esquire, SPIN, Christianity Today, TIME, and The Wall Street Journal, and he has been on everything from Fox News and Al Jazeera to CNN and NPR. He’s given academic lectures at Harvard, Princeton, Liberty, Duke, and Notre Dame.
Shane speaks regularly at denominational gatherings, festivals and conferences around the globe.
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
Interview with Shane Claiborne edited by Charish Badzinski.
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Episode 70 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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IN THIS EPISODE
In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, enjoys a conversation with Kerry Alys Robinson, CEO and President of Catholic Charities USA, who shares that witnessing the joy and faith of Catholics serving others in her childhood sparked her own inspiration and desire to serve behind the scenes in pursuit of the common good. “True leadership is service,” says Kerry. “It is a disposition of other-centeredness.” Expressing her passion for Catholic Social Teaching, she addresses the realities of wealth gaps and classism and how injustice can divide the people of God. Responding to the needs of the people of God, Kerry emphasizes, requires not competition but charity and justice. “Generosity is humankind's birthright,” says Kerry about the call to kindness, both to oneself and to others. Together she and Sister Julia explore the messiness of diversity, polarization, judgment and how a life of service and prayer require openness to the other. Says Kerry, “Everything belongs and is interconnected.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
Catholic Charities USA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson is a noted expert in Catholic leadership and philanthropy and only the second woman and second layperson to lead the U.S. Catholic Church’s domestic humanitarian work. In the past year, the nationwide Catholic Charities network served more than 15 million people in need. For decades, Kerry has served the church and its mission to alleviate human suffering. Most recently, she was an executive partner at Leadership Roundtable, which since 2005 has promoted excellence and best practices in the management, finances and human resource development of the Catholic Church. She was the group’s founding executive director. Prior to that, Kerry served as director of development for Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University, leading a $75 million fundraising campaign to expand and endow the chapel’s ministry and construct a Catholic student center. A member of the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities and FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities), she has been an advisor to and trustee of more than 25 grantmaking foundations, charitable nonprofits and family philanthropies. She served for 15 years on the national committee for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Robinson is an accomplished writer and speaker and wrote the prize-winning Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy and a Spiritual Call to Service. A graduate of Georgetown University and Yale, Robinson is married to Dr. Michael Cappello, professor of medicine and public health at Yale University. They have two children, Christopher and Sophie.
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
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Episode 69 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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IN THIS EPISODE
In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, talks with Mary J. Novak, executive director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice in Washington, D.C. Mary shares life experiences that proved her power to serve and respond to human suffering. They get into the mess of human oneness and the necessity for collaboration in response to existential threats like the climate crisis and the fragility of democracy. Their conversation explores the Catholic tradition to “meddle in politics,” voting rights and why it’s essential for us to focus on strengthening democracy. In answer to Sister Julia’s question, “are we called to imagine new systems?” Mary responded, “We all need structures in our lives for us to flourish. Maybe there’s a better way for us to put democracy together, but much is still working right.” Mary added that “this is an evolutionary moment, and so how do we keep showing up and how do we surround ourselves with community? Democracy is about participating.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
Mary J. Novak is the sixth executive director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, and the first lay leader to guide the organization founded by Catholic Sisters 50 years ago. She is also an associate member of the Congregation of St. Joseph. Mary’s experience as an organizer and activist as well as a trauma-informed lawyer, educator, chaplain and restorative justice practitioner informs her ability to integrate all aspects of the organization to advance NETWORK’s mission. These experiences have also inspired her to initiate a shared leadership model for the first time in NETWORK’s history. Together the leadership team is positioning NETWORK for the future, strengthening relationships with partners who serve the common good, and ensuring that the NETWORK community flourishes in the shared pursuit of justice. A graduate of Santa Clara University Law School and Washington Theological Union, Mary also studied theology and spirituality at Santa Clara University. Prior to leading NETWORK, Mary served as associate director of mission integration and a law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Mary served as Catholic Mobilizing Network’s founding board chair and is currently chair of the advisory board for the University of St. Thomas Law School’s Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing.
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
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Episode 68 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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IN THIS EPISODE
In this episode of the Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, talks with Vincent J. Miller, the Gudorf Chair of Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton. Vincent shares how his studies awoke him to the harm technology and consumption can lead to; the impetus that, in order to explore deeper questions, changed his course from engineering to theology. Regarding consumer culture, Vincent says that although every material good has an origin story, “the world we live in makes us see certain things and hides other things from us.” Sister Julia and Vincent also explore how, even though awareness can be painful, global and relational consciousness is part of what it means to be Christian. They delve into the sorrow and horror of war, climate crises and environmental destruction, and how the spiritual response is to be centered in relationality, to respond to calls to love and hope. “We’re called to be part of the community of creation, and we’re called to realize the pain we’re putting onto creation,” Vincent says, adding that because of the brokenness of our planet, people and systems, we are meant to “embrace the blemished world and learn to love there."
ABOUT THE GUEST
Vincent Miller is the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton in Ohio. He is the author of Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture and editor of The Theological and Ecological Vision of Laudato Si’: Everything is Connected. He lives with his family in Dayton and is a regular contributor to America Magazine and Commonweal Magazine. Vincent has been featured in many publications as well as television and radio programs that include The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Guardian, Il Foglio, CNN, NPR, BBC, the O’Reilly Factor and Mongabay.Vincent Miller’s article on the Oregon fires in Commonweal: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/tears-ashes
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
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Episode 67 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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IN THIS EPISODE
In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, talks with Sister Laura Nettles, the Executive Director of Mission and Social Justice at Viterbo University. Sister Laura shares her vocation story and how she came to know her call to be a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. They discuss the relational and communal charism of Franciscanism as well as the charism of FSPA: being Eucharistic presence to others. Sister Laura shares the importance of Christian action and outreach combined with an openness to the complexities and struggles for social justice. They get into the danger of bias and why it's essential to stay open to learning and knowing different perspectives, and how Christians are called to conversion. “Conversion in the Franciscan sense about just going inward and looking at yourself and reevaluating always what do I know and what don’t I know … We are not static, we are always changing,” says Sister Laura.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Laura Nettles is the Executive Director of Mission and Social Justice as well as an associate professor in Religious Studies and Theology at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Currently she is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in Moral and Systematic Theology at the Chicago Theological Seminary, researching topics within the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition, Catholic Social Teaching and the inter-textual connections between Medieval Franciscans, Jews and Muslims. Most recently, Sister Laura has been exploring the connection between Christianity, Catholicism and racism. She regularly teaches courses in introductory Christian theology, World Religions, Franciscan theology, Catholic Social Teaching and Womanist, Mujerista and Asian feminist theologies. Sister Laura is also the author of multiple articles and book chapters and speaker of topics like Franciscan theology and spirituality.
In addition to her ministry of education, Sister Laura serves the congregation in the ministry of justice and peace, primarily as a member of the FSPA Anti-Racism Team, missioned to authenticate unity in diversity by fostering the growth of FSPA into an anti-racist community and organization that dismantles racism through prayer, witness, study and action. Sister Laura also serves as co-chair of the La Crosse Interfaith Shoulder to Shoulder Network, a group dedicated to the eradication of islamophobia.
Viterbo University's Sister Thea Bowman Center
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
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Episode 66 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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IN THIS EPISODE
In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Father Carl Gales, pastor of Our Lady of Africa Catholic Parish in Chicago, Illinois. They discuss Father Carl’s journey into the Catholic Church and priesthood, his previous career as a concert pianist and the messiness of leadership and service in the Church. They explore the importance of managing expectations and one’s own temperament in service of the Gospel. Father Carl shares the creative and contemplative process that he utilizes to prepare to preach and invite the community to apply the teachings of Jesus to their lives. They also touch on how the Catholic Church could develop into a more inclusive Church that decenters whiteness. “The richness of Blackness needs to be acknowledged, affirmed, cherished, nourished and sustained by us all,” says Father Carl, emphasizing that Blackness is not an add-on. It is essential for each person and be their authentic selves within the Christian community.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Father Carl Gales, SVD, was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where he began his musical studies. He went on to earn his Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It was there that he converted to Catholicism.
After working as a director of liturgy and music for several parishes, Father Carl began to discern the priesthood. In 2014 he entered seminary formation with the Society of the Divine Word. After missionary work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fr Carl professed Final Vows and was ordained into priesthood in May 2022. He is currently the pastoral administrator of Our Lady of Africa Parish in Chicago.
Our Lady of Africa in Chicago's Facebook page
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
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Episode 65 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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IN THIS EPISODE:
In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Fr. Greg Boyle, director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, CA. They discuss Fr. Greg’s journey into being a Jesuit priest who serves gang members and the mission of Homeboy Industries. Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, welcoming thousands through our doors each year. Homeboy is centered in its principles that “everyone is good (no exceptions)” and “we belong to each other (no exceptions.)” Fr. Greg shared how the Gospel of Jesus Christ motivates him to build a community of “cherished belonging” that welcomes and honors the wholeness of each person who is encountered.
Sister Julia and Fr. Greg explore how Christians go to the margins to be changed, not to reach people or succeed, but try to be helpful. Sister Julia asks about the tension of running a successful nonprofit and being faithful to the Gospel call to be on the margins of society. They also get into the value of storytelling for moving minds and hearts, the importance of having healthy images of God and what Church and holiness mean.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and native Angeleno. From 1986 to 1992 Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, then the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles in a neighborhood with the most gang activity in the city.
In 1988 Father Boyle, along with parish and community members, started what would become Homeboy Industries. Homeboy employs and trains former gang members in a range of social enterprises, and provides critical services to thousands of men and women who walk through its doors every year.
Father Boyle is the author of the 2010 New York Times-bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion; 2017’s Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship; and 2021’s The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, President Obama named Father Boyle a Champion of Change. He received the University of Notre Dame’s 2017 Laetare Medal, the oldest honor given to American Catholics.
https://homeboyindustries.org/
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
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Episode 64 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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"Sometimes it is at the prophetic edge you can see the Holy Spirit breaking through and allowing a new thing to happen” - Ellie Hidalgo
IN THIS EPISODE
In this episode of the Messy Jesus Business Podcast, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Ellie Hidalgo, co-director of Discerning Deacons. They discuss Ellie’s journey into ministry and how she discovered the relevance of listening and storytelling in building the reign of God. They explore the relevance of the Catholic Church today and what it means to be an active member: "Being Catholic is not a passive thing."Ellie also shared about her journey to the Amazon and Bolivia to witness the leadership of Catholic women in remote places. Together she and Sister Julia explore how vital and relevant good listening is in building up the reign of God and fostering the strength of the Church, narrowing in on their shared enthusiasm about the upcoming synod and the power that listening to the people of God ought to have for all. Ellie notes that Christians are called to "Understand the power that listening has and what it does to unleash people’s gifts for ministry … unleash people’s hope, it helps stitch people’s lives back together, it helps us to not be afraid of entering into the messiness of people’s lives.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
Ellie Hidalgo is co-director of Discerning Deacons, a project that engages Catholics in the active discernment of our Church about women and the diaconate. Ellie is active in the global synod process, helping to animate 350 sessions that reached 9,000 people in the listening phase. She has traveled to the Amazon region of Latin America to accompany women engaged in prophetic ministry. Ellie has a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and to St. Phoebe, who served as a deacon in our early Church, alongside St. Paul. She served for 12 years as the pastoral associate at Dolores Mission Church in East Los Angeles, a Jesuit parish known for its advocacy of immigrants, restorative justice ministries, faith-based community organizing, and for being the home parish of Homeboy Industries. Ellie graduated with a Masters in Pastoral Theology from Loyola Marymount University and received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2020 she returned to Miami to live closer to her Cuban American family. In 2023 Ellie received the Robert M. Holstein Faith Doing Justice Award from the Ignatian Solidarity Network and the St. John XXIII Award for keeping alive the vision of Vatican II from the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests.
Learn more about Discerning Deacons here: https://discerningdeacons.org/
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
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IN THIS EPISODE
We're in between seasons on a break but are offering a special episode featuring five Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, who are in the same community as Sister Julia.
Featured are Sisters Karen Kappell, Meg Earsley, Janet Fischer, Paulynn Instenes and Corrina Thomas.
Sister Julia asks each Sister three questions:-How did you know you were called to be an FSPA?-What does discipleship mean to you?-What is messy about being a modern Franciscan sister?
Learn more about the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration: www.fspa.org
Look for our new season to drop in September 2023!
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
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Episode 63 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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“Prayer has to push you to do something outside yourself.” -Kristina Ortega
IN THIS EPISODE
For the latest episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia is in conversation with Catholic educator and inclusivity advocate Kristina Ortega. Their conversation explores prayer and spirituality, advocacy, being women in the Catholic Church, and the value and neccessity of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in Catholic education. Kristina also talks about how her own Mexican heritage is essential to her own experience of being Catholic.
Kristina admits that being a woman in the church is experience of joy but also can be frustrating. She sees this in the girls’ Catholic schools where there is a “stained-glass ceiling.” To counter this she teaches a theology that allows her students to say “I see myself.”
When talking about doing DEI work at a Catholic School, Kristina makes connections to incarnational theology. As she says, to protect the image of God and honor the dignity of the human person, all people need to be honored for who they are and according to their culture, socio-economic status and gender identity. The church can do strenthen this part of its mission, Kristina says, by allowing more lay leadership.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Kristina Ortega was born and raised in Los Angeles and is the product of 18 years of Catholic school. She has a BA and an MA in Theological Studies from Loyola Marymount University and has taught in Catholic high schools since 2001. She is a Minister of Liturgical Movement in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and serves on two of the planning committees for the LA Religious Education Congress. Kristina is currently the Coordinator of Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Mayfield Senior School in Pasadena, CA. She has contributed a chapter to a book forthcoming in Summer 2023, "Creating Spaces for Women in the Catholic Church." Outside of ministry, Kristina is a docent at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, a Mexican-American art, culture, and history museum in LA. She and her family are members of Dolores Mission Parish in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California.
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
Email us at [email protected]
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A Special Episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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California Lilacs near Brown Mountain dam, La Cañada Flintridge, california. photo © Colin wambsgans
IN THIS EPISODE
For this special time of year, we present to you this Easter contemplation episode of Messy Jesus Business Podcast. Sister Julia will lead you through a some thoughts on what Jesus's rise from the dead means for us, and includes a reading from Matthew 28:1-10. You can find the translation she uses here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/28
We hope this short meditation can help connect you with the wonders of Easter and the Resurrection!
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
Original music and sound design by Colin Wambsgans.
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Episode 62 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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"Whoever is in front of us we are called to love." -Sister Christa Parra
IN THIS EPISODE
For this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh chats with an old friend, Sister Christa Parra, IBVM. Sister Christa shares her vocation story and how she became a Catholic Sister. Though she served in Peru before joining the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and went to Catholic Theological Union, her desire to serve people where they are led her to accompany the people at the US-Mexico border, specifically in Ciudad Juárez.
“I want to be able to live with the people and be involved in their daily lives, and to sit with them in their struggles and their joys," says Sister Christa.
Sister Christa also tells some of the tragic stories happening to women and refugees in Juárez (and a warning to listeners: many of these stories contain terrible violence and suffering). But always, Sister Christa tells us, the humanity of the people living there, Mexican and refugees, shines through. Also, Christa tells Julia that while she and her fellow workers give the refugees a chance to regroup before the next stages of their journeys, but they also form a community with each other and become a family.
Sister Christa adds, “When our families come to us all we can do is love them, provide them basics, and also to learn from [them] because our siblings teach us how to accompany.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
Sister Christa Parra is a member of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is part of an intercongregational intercultural community in El Paso, Texas and a third generation Mexican-American from a small border town in Arizona. A graduate of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, she earned a Master of Divinity and Certificate in Hispanic Theology and Ministry in 2016. She loves serving our brothers and sisters in Christ and presently does so through a pastoral accompaniment role at a shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
*To donate directly to Sister Christa and the IBVM's ministry in Ciudad Juárez:
https://ibvm.us/support-us/make-a-gift/general-donation
Under the "Designation Tab" choose Ministry FundUnder "Leave a comment" type "Migrant Ministry in Ciudad Juarez"
*To learn more about and donate to Annunciation House in El Paso go to: https://annunciationhouse.org/
*Facebook page for Casa Eudes in Juárez: https://www.facebook.com/micasaeudes
*Website for Centro Santa Catalina in Juárez: https://centrodesantacatalina.org/
*Sister Christa's page at Catholic Women Preach: https://www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preacher/christa-parra
*Sister Christa's speech at Catholic Theological Union's 2016 graduation ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qgzYaYL5v0
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
Email us at [email protected]
BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness
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Twitter: @messyjesusbiz
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Episode 61 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
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"Every time I've been raw and vulnerable before God, I've been surprised at how Jesus has responded to it." -Father Justin Claravall
IN THIS EPISODE
For this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh chats with Father Justin Claravall, SJ, Associate Pastor of Dolores Mission Church. Justin talks about his path to the Jesuits and how Saint Ignatius led him to a closer understanding of Jesus and God. He also talks about his prayer practice, and how he approaches it by "being real... with myself before God and noticing God being real with me."
Later, Julia asks Justin about Dolores Mission. They talk about the joys and hardships of many of the parishioners. Justin delves into the two on-coming problems of gentrification and youth engagement, focusing on the idea of how to organize people for long-term health of the community. Paradoxically, as Justin points out, this organization goes hand-in-hand with the mess of people's lives.
Julia and Justin also talk about the relationship between art and justice, focusing on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s idea of a "soul force" and the idea of God as a creator. He urges people to be frank about where they are in the mess of their own lives: "If you don't like the mess... tell Jesus about it!"
ABOUT THE GUEST
Fr. Justin Claravall, S.J., is an associate pastor at Dolores Mission Church in Los Angeles, CA. During his Jesuit life, he taught religion in prisons and high schools, and led faith sharing groups for teenagers and young adults. He currently accompanies his parish school, participates in the Ecclesial Base Communities and Social Justice Committee, and tries to make time for more art.
Dolores Mission's website: https://www.dolores-mission.org/
Dolores Mission's Facebook page, where Sunday masses are live-streamed: https://www.facebook.com/DoloresMissionChurch/
Father Justin's video essays on prayer and the pandemic on Jesuits West: https://www.jesuitswest.org/stories/fr-justin-claravall-sj-praying-during-the-pandemic/
Chapter 11 from St. Paul's letter to the Hebrews, which comes up in the interview: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/11
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
Email us at [email protected]
BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness
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Twitter: @messyjesusbiz
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LISTEN HERE: -
A Special Episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Oasis of Mara, Twentynine palms, california. photo © Colin wambsgans
IN THIS EPISODE
Though Holy Week will be here soon, the Lenten journey continues. We invite you to take some time in prayerful contemplation of this season with Sister Julia in this special episode. This meditation includes a reading from Isaiah 58:5-12 and a poem previously published on Messy Jesus Business in 2022 entitled "Death Poetica" by Sister Julia. You can find the poem here: https://messyjesusbusiness.com/2022/03/02/death-poetica/
MESSY JESUS BUSINESS is hosted by Sister Julia Walsh.
Produced and edited by Colin Wambsgans.
Original music and sound design by Colin Wambsgans.
Email us at [email protected]
BE SOCIAL:https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MessyJesusBusiness
Twitter: @messyjesusbiz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/messyjesusbusiness
SUPPORT US:
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LISTEN HERE: - Näytä enemmän
